The present invention relates to establishing a communication session between users connected to a computer network, and more specifically, to exchanging computer networking data packets over a public data network simultaneously with a telephone call placed over a public telephone network.
Internetworking (i.e., the interconnection of many computer networks) allows the interaction of very large numbers of computers and computer users. The most well known example is the Internet. Computers connected to the Internet may be widely separated geographically and utilize many different hardware and software configurations. In order to achieve communication sessions between any two endpoints on the Internet, an addressing system and various standard protocols for exchanging computer data packets have been developed.
Each packet sent over the Internet includes fields that specify the source and destination address of the packet according to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses assigned to the network interface nodes involved. Currently assigned addresses comprise 32 bits, although future standards allow for 128 bit addresses. The 32 bit addresses are normally written by breaking the 32 bits into 4 groups of 8 bits each and writing the decimal equivalents of each group separated by periods (e.g., 208.25.106.10).
Since numerical IP addresses are inconvenient to use and remember, a protocol for assigning and accessing logical names is used known as the domain name system (DNS). DNS servers are deployed within the Internet which perform a translation function between a logical domain name such as “sprint.com” and its numerical equivalent “208.25.106.10”. After receiving an IP address back from a DNS server, a computer can forward data packets to the IP address and establish a connection or session with the remote computer.
While the DNS system works well for hosted content (e.g., material made available for browsing by commercial and private entities), it is not well suited to ad hoc communications or exchanges of data between individuals. Hosting a website and registering an IP address within the DNS system is expensive and time consuming. Furthermore, due to an impending shortage of IP addresses and the cost for maintaining use of each IP address, many Internet service providers assign IP addresses dynamically to their individual users. In other words, when a user signs on to their service, they are temporarily assigned an IP address from an address pool assigned to their service provider. The user occupies that IP address only for their current session.
Even when individual users have their own static IP addresses, and when other users can remember the IP address of a user with whom they would like to establish a connection session over the Internet (e.g., for voice or video telephony), the need to configure their hardware or software is too complex for many users. This is one reason why e-mail is such a popular and successful Internet application. A mail server with an easy to remember domain name acts as intermediary between two individual users. Using a simple application program and the recipient's account name on the mail server (i.e., their e-mail address), text messages and computer files can be exchanged. The exchange, however, does not allow the users to interact in real time. Thus, there is a need for a way to allow two or more individual users to establish interactive connection sessions over the Internet without requiring overt knowledge of the other's IP address and without complicated configurations or set-ups.
The present invention is also directed to advances in video telephony. Video telephony comprises the exchange of both audio and video between a caller and called party. If video telephony were deployed on a large scale, it would dramatically improve user-to-user communications and provide greater efficiency to business entities. For example, large-scale video telephony would significantly reduce business travel expenses. Unfortunately, the mass deployment of video telephony has failed to materialize.
Various systems have been developed to provide video telephony. For example, computers can be used to place video calls over the Internet (provided the IP addresses of both parties are explicitly known in advance). Alternatively, video telephones can be used to place video calls over video telephone networks. Unfortunately, these video telephony systems are complex to install and operate, and they are often expensive. The cost and complexity has inhibited mass deployment. There is a need for video telephony technology that is easier to install and operate, and that is more inexpensive than current systems.